Terry McMillan is the queen of writing women’s fiction focused on family
relationships, sisterhood, womanhood, and love with a lot of drama in between.
In this novel, readers meet Dr. Georgia Young, a 55-year old successful
optometrist, twice divorced with two adult children and four grandkids. When
she finds out one of her past lovers had passed, she gets the idea of making a
list of all her old boyfriends to see how life has treated them and to let them
know she hadn’t forgotten about them. At this same time, she gets the idea of
downsizing her beautiful home because it was too big, taking a train ride across
the country, selling her part of the medical practice where she works, and
pursue her passion of decorating/designing. So, Georgia’s plate is very full as
she navigates reinventing herself. And if that wasn’t enough, she has to deal
with her college/sister-friends: Wanda and Violet meddling in her life (all out
of love though).
I thought the storyline was an interesting one which made me pause and
ask myself whether I would go in search of old boyfriends (I wouldn’t) to see “whether
they’re still alive and healthy and happy and thriving.” It also touched on
regrets which we all have, but it’s all about how we deal with them. Another
thing it touched upon was whether women of a certain age after being divorced
could dip their toes back into the dating pool and find love again. These were
all real-life issues which were handled masterfully by Terry McMillan.
Nevertheless, I found Georgia to be overly judgmental and she wallowed
too much in self-pity for too long throughout the book. Even her eighty-two-year-old mother had more
spunk than her (finding a new husband at her age). Anyway, I enjoyed the
dialogue between her, Wanda and Violet as it depicted a real slice of life
between sister-friends and how much they had each other’s backs. I also enjoyed her encounters with her
ex-husbands, some of the men she went on dates with, and her old boyfriends some
of whom she reconnected with. The backstories definitely show how much their
lives had changed and, in some aspects, how the love was still there for some
of them.
While this book may not be for everyone, I found Georgia’s journey an
interesting one of self-discovery and taking chances: deciding how much she
loved her home (a reflection of her style and taste), giving up her career to
pursue her passion of designing and decorating, taking the train ride, and
trusting how to love and be in love again. Toward the end of the novel, I was
simply cheering for Georgia (and happy she didn’t forget about herself too).
So, the bottom line is if there are any chances of changing something in your
life and meeting someone who loves you then by all means go for it! Nothing is
impossible if you have close friends to see you through!
Good read!
Some of my favorite lines:
“I don’t need a lecture, Georgia. I’m just trying to figure out my next
steps and how to do what you’re doing?”
“Which is what?”
“Reinventing yourself.”
“Who said I was trying to reinvent myself?”
“You’re a middle-aged woman attempting to sell your beautiful home for
no legitimate reason except that you’re bored and trying to start a new career
when the one you have is perfectly fine, and then to top it off you’re looking
up all your old boyfriends hoping you can hook back up with some of them since
you can’t seem to find one right here in the Bay Area.”
“How many drinks have you had?”
“Not enough.”
Rating: 4 stars
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